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AM Frequency of the week: 1440:

cyberdad

cyberdad

Administrator
Staff member
40 miles northwest of downtown Chicago....

Day: 1440 is WROK from Rockford, IL. 5kw with a relatively mild null in my direction. The result is a fair signal from about 35 miles to my west.

Night: WROK drops to 270 watts non-directional, which is not enough to produce anything listenable above the jumble of weak signals on the channel. WNFL from Green Bay is most likely to rise to the top, but even that doesn't happen very often. I've also heard WHIS from Bluefield, West Virginia. Night power is 500 watts, but the pattern favors me. Or...it could be they've been on "originaal" 5kw non-directional day power when I've heard them.

I've also been hearing brief moments of music in Spanish on 1440 during pre-dawn hours. It shounds like ranchero, but generally it's only in for less than half of a minute, and I havent been able to ID it. My best guess is KTUV from Little Rock, Arkansas. R-L shows them with a CP for 23kw ND days, but only 240 watts at night. 23kw woulc put a robust skywave signal into my location. As opposed to the short "fragments" that I've been hearing. So my guess is if it is KTUV, its either night power or the original 5kw ND day pattern?

Any ideas from you guys about what might be going on here?
 
In the near north Chicago suburbs all I hear during the day is splatter from nearby WEEF. If I drive 30 miles north or so I can hear WROK, weak, but there.
At night not much better. Although WEEF's splatter is less, there is not much I can make out. I have heard WNFL in the past, but not much else.
 
Chicago near the lakeshore:

During the day there might be a weak WROK in Rockford IL, and if I'm right on the lakeshore I can sometimes get WKPR in Kalamazoo. Both are quite weak where I am.

At night, it's a mix. Sometimes I get WROK at night too. The next most likely is WIBU in Paris IL, which is about 160 miles to my south. I usually listen with my radio on a south-facing window and that's probably why I can sometimes get it. I also have two stations which I've IDed exactly once apiece: WGEM in Quincy IL, and WNFL in Green Bay.
 
MichaelTheZ said:
Chicago near the lakeshore:
I also have two stations which I've IDed exactly once apiece: WGEM in Quincy IL, and WNFL in Green Bay.
Click to expand...

I have some fond memories of WGEM. On business trips to Missouri, It was my go-to for Cubs baseball broadcasts, when I was out of the "comfortable" daytime range for WGN.
Once I got beyond St. Louis and splatter from WIL (1430), on a good car radio, I could get at least an hour of WGEM on I-70 west towards Kansas City or I-44 southwest towards Joplin. The signal definitely outperformed what R-L indicates.

Rewind further to my college daus in southeast Iowa, and on nights there when conditions were right, I could listen to the then-novelty of a top 40 program on FM. Which WGEM simulcast on WGEM FM (105.1) complete with Series 18 PAMS WGEM jingles! WGEM-AM had a fair daytime signal where I was, but completely vanished at night. Distance was about 75 miles.
 
East Tennessee: Another one of those top-of-the-dial frequencies with nothing nearby, and unless something skips in sunrise or sunset, or winter daytime skip, it's pretty blank. I'm looking forward to a fresh listen, especially with the Knoxville SDR.

Nights: A hodge-podge of stuff and junk.

Retro/other: I worked at a 1440 briefly, WPGW, Portland IN. In the early 70s and before, it was only the husband/wife team of Glenn West and Mrs. West running the station. They carried 3 of the 4 ABC networks. When Bob Brandon took it over, he built out the FM CP, affiliated officially as an ABC/Contemporary affiliate. Its pattern avoided WIRE in Indianpolis and WLYV, Fort Wayne. In my West Central Ohio home, after WPGW sign off it could be one of a few stations, but I most remember WNFL, Green Bay. A friend had worked there briefly. Another friend worked at KKXL, Grand Forks ND but never was able to snag it. I just caught WNFL on the Edinburgh IN SDR.

My own memories of WGEM, Quincy IL was working across town from it at KGRC, Hannibal, MO. If I tuned it in at night coming home from work, it would have other stations underneath until about the time I crossed the river. I never heard WGEM anywhere else I lived. The way they had it set up, AM and FM were automated except for the AM morning show and a live assist guy on FM. Radio signed off whenever the TV station signed off. If the movie after Letterman ran until 2:30, the radio stations signed off at 2:30. I've checked out the new Warrenton MO SDR and caught all 3 major Hannibal/Quincy AMs (WTAD, KHMO and WGEM). I hadn't been out that way since 1986 so that was interesting.
 
In the southwest suburbs of Chicago, 1440 has mostly been a wasteland for me. Never really had the patience to sit on it for anything at night, but caught WROK Rockford at mid-morning in February. I'd have to unearth the old log to see what I received way back.

This thread coaxed me to turn the ICF-2010 to it tonight. It was the expected jumble, with two unidentified exceptions: a briefly surfacing partial weather forecast (naturally not mentioning where the forecast was for), and occasional bits of tonights Cubs game, called by Pat Hughes. That's either WROK or WGEM Quincy. Probably the former, but who knows.

This may call for leaving the bedside radio on overnight to see if I hear call letters in my sleep.
 
1440 used to have a lot of old 500 watt Nighttime nondirectional III-B stations, which were protected from each other by the lower power and distance between stations, including WBCM (now WMAX) and WROK, which is the equivalent of an old 500 watt nondirectional station at night, because of it's electrical height. It looks like it's a sectionalized tower.
 
Orange County, TX Days nothing, nights a GY-type mess with many Spanish language stations in the mix. At one time KEYS, Corpus Christi, TX was a frequent visitor. They have applied for a reduction in power to 199W ND nighttime. I don't know if they have already reduced power but they have been absent for about a month.

Retro: back in the 60's, when I was going to college in Kingsville, KEYS was one of the big rockers for the Coastal Bend.
 
tvnut said:
In the southwest suburbs of Chicago, 1440 has mostly been a wasteland for me. Never really had the patience to sit on it for anything at night, but caught WROK Rockford at mid-morning in February. I'd have to unearth the old log to see what I received way back.

This thread coaxed me to turn the ICF-2010 to it tonight. It was the expected jumble, with two unidentified exceptions: a briefly surfacing partial weather forecast (naturally not mentioning where the forecast was for), and occasional bits of tonights Cubs game, called by Pat Hughes. That's either WROK or WGEM Quincy. Probably the former, but who knows.

This may call for leaving the bedside radio on overnight to see if I hear call letters in my sleep.
Click to expand...

Good luck ZZZZZZZZZZ! :)
 
Here in Wood Dale, IL in the near NW suburb of Chicago:

Daytime: WROK but not easy (see below)
Nightime: nothing really stands out

DX/RETRO/ETC: This frequency is quite troublesome for me at me current location thanks to WGN. Since I am just 3 miles from their stick, I keep getting a first harmonic of WGN on this frequency sometimes interfering with my daytime reception of WROK. At night with the use of a loop antenna I can get eliminate most of that interference. Some of my DX catches include KKXL (Grand Forks, ND), KMLB (Monroe, LA), WHHY (Montgomery, AL), WNFL (Green Bay, WI), WJJL (Niagara Falls, NY), WZYN (Cowan, TN) as well as 4 different stations from Kentucky (WCDS, WMDJ, WEZJ, WPRZ).
 
Occasionally WGEM Quincy, IL, at night, but usually 1440 is a chaotic mess that sounds pretty much like a graveyard frequency. And that, my friends, is why I don't really enjoy DXing very much anymore.
 
In Atlanta there is nothing in the daytime. At night its a jumble. But at sunrise I can hear WGVL skipping in out of Greenville SC. Its one of four 5KW fulltime stations in the nation. They are a BIN station owned by CC.
 
West Central Georgia:

Days - Weak signal from WLWI Montgomery AL 5000/1000 News/talk

Nights - Not much, but hear WGVL Greenville SC 5000 most often with Black Information Network, followed by WZYX Cowan TN 5000/66 "The Eagle" probably on day power with news and oldies
Have also caught WMAX Bay City MI 5000/2500 Catholic Radio
 
WCJ said:
Orange County, TX Days nothing, nights a GY-type mess with many Spanish language stations in the mix. At one time KEYS, Corpus Christi, TX was a frequent visitor. They have applied for a reduction in power to 199W ND nighttime. I don't know if they have already reduced power but they have been absent for about a month.
Click to expand...

In west Houston, daytime is slop from local 1430 KSHJ. At sunset and in the evening, I've heard WVGG in Mississippi, plus closer to home, KETX Livingston TX and KDNT Denton TX (was SS religion, now Relevant Radio). I've also heard KEYS (not recently) and KPUR in Amarillo TX. I've heard Spanish in the mix as well, possibly XEESD. In general, nighttime is a graveyard-like jumble.
 
From NW San Antonio:

Day: On most of my radios there's a weak image of close-by pest 1350 KXTN.

Sunset: KELG in Manor, TX, (near Austin) comes up and is eventually overtaken by classic rock KETX in Livingston, TX. KTUV in Little Rock often mixes in. Aiming SE, KEYS comes up.

Night: KEYS hangs in there for a while but eventually weakens to where it only pops up occasionally. In that same SE/NW direction, KPUR in Amarillo, TX, and KRDZ in Wray, CO, are very occasional brief visitors. Aiming more N/S, it's graveyard-like, with XEEST in Mexico City on top the most.

Sunrise: XEEST is still most dominant until the closer stations start going to day power/pattern. KEXB in University Park, TX, can be heard underneath KETX when it powers up. KEYS also comes back stronger for a while, and KELG is the last to fade.

DX/RETRO: I've heard KAZG in Scottsdale, AZ, once. Also, I used to hear XEABCJ in Tonalá at night before it was retired.
 
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